Talented British conductor Alpesh Chauhan will join forces with world-class cello virtuoso Johannes Moser and offer compositions from the 19th and 20th centuries – Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Hebrides Op. 26

Dmitri Shostakovich
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 107

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No 2 in C minor, Op. 17

Johannes Moser – cello
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Alpesh Chauhan – conductor

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was inspired to compose the opening concerto overture The Hebrides by the romantic landscape of the same-named islands off the coast of Scotland. The composer captured the image of wild and untamed nature with the mighty coastal Fingal’s Cave in an impressive, almost impressionistic musical poem from 1830.

The overture is followed by one of composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s most important works. The first cello concerto was written by the composer in 1959 for the phenomenal Mstislav Rostropovich and it features everything from brilliant virtuosic passages to an infusion of Shostakovich’s typically sarcastic humour.

Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony is sometimes referred to as the ‘Malorusskaya’. It earned this nickname immediately after its premiere, due to its quotations of several Ukrainian folk songs. Tchaikovsky began composing the symphony in 1872 during a summer stay in Kamyanka, Ukraine, which was a popular resort for Russian artists and freethinkers. Although the composition today lies in the shadow of the composer’s peak symphonies, it does not lack Tchaikovsky’s typical handwriting and charm.

In a programme of 19th- and 20th-century works, the talented, emerging British conductor Alpesh Chauhan joins forces with world-class cello virtuoso Johannes Moser.